Styx's “Renegade”: The Accidental Hit That Made Tommy Shaw a Rock Legend

Coming up an interview with one of the defining voices of 70s and 80s rock: Tommy Shaw. He joined Styx after they already had a couple of hits, but they weren’t exactly established. But after Tommy came aboard, they were unstoppable with a two-singer attack that made them twice the threat... especially with today’s song Renegade... an all-time classic rock magnum opus. It came from images in the singer’s head from old westerns he watched as a kid, and he came up with a famous a cappella part that wasn’t planned. The producer just pulled the music out after it had been recorded, and the band all looked at each other in disbelief. Then Renegade was tacked on as the B-side to a song the label thought would do well, but DJs loved Renegade and turned it over and made it a classic. Up next, Tommy Shaw breaks down his most famous song. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.